Lucy Burdette: I'm so thrilled to have my friend Rhys Bowen as our guest here today. I loved her new book, THE VICTORY GARDEN, and she's stopped by to talk about it, share a recipe, and offer a giveaway! Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing...
Rhys Bowen: I seem to spend a lot of time writing about wars. My last
two stand-alone novels took place in WWII and now I have moved back in time to
WWI for my new book, THE VICTORY GARDEN, that comes out next Tuesday, February
12.
The story focuses on a young woman who joins the newly
formed Women’s Land Army and becomes one of the many women doing jobs they did
not believe they were capable of, also
forming bonds between social classes hitherto unheard of. IN 1918 England was
in danger of winning the war but of the country dying of starvation. A whole
generation of young men was not coming home to work in the fields. Crops were
not being planted and harvested. And so a Women’s Land Army was formed. They
came from all walks of life: upper class girls like my Emily Bryce, former
servants, widows from the cities as well as farm girls. They lived together in
close quarters, worked hard from dawn to dusk, and formed strong bonds of
friendship—so essential in this time when every one of them had lost a husband,
son or sweetheart
My heroine comes from a great loss to inherit a healing
garden of herbs and by healing others comes to heal herself..
What a senseless war this was! Commanded by cavalry generals
who sent men ‘over the top’ to face tanks and Twentieth Century weapons of
destruction. Five thousand men killed to gain a yard, only to lose it back the
next day. Never has there been wholesale slaughter like this. And the men who
came home were broken in body and mind. So this started me thinking: who does
the men’s jobs when they don’t come home. In a village who becomes the
blacksmith? The pub owner? The carter? And of course women had to take over.
For them it was incredibly empowering. In the land army they were given a uniform
of bloomers and a jacket. They could discard those cumbersome skirts. They
threw away their corsets (as happens in one of my favorite scenes in my books).
They cut their hair. They worked hard but they gained new-found confidence in
their abilities.
Choosing a recipe from a time when England was starving was
not going to be easy. Rationing meant that meat, butter and cheese were all
luxuries to be used sparingly if and when they were available. Many of the
recipes from both World Wars involved a lot of root vegetables with a potato
crust. Hardly inspiring. So I’m giving you a standard British comfort food that
I’m sure they would have made any time they got their hands on some meat,
especially to use up the last bits of a roast. It’s called Shepherd’s Pie when
it’s made with lamb, and Cottage Pie when it’s made with beef.
 |
| Delia Smith's Cottage pie |
Shepherd's pie/ Cottage pie.
boil several large potatoes
saute 2 onions in a pan
add 1 pound of good ground beef or lamb (can also be made
with left over roast beef or lamb ground)
pour off fat
add one Tsp curry powder
stir in well, cooking for a few more minutes
make a mixture of about 1 pint of stock, beef better than
bouillon, large dollop of tomato ketchup, warm together then pour over meat.
Transfer meat to pie dish
mash potatoes with butter and or milk. Season well
Spread over meat.
Bake at 425 until crust starts to look crisp and to turn
brown.
Serve with veg (peas are good) You can also add cooked
peas to the meat mixture!
This is still one of my favorite foods. I hope you enjoy
it. And I hope you enjoy THE VICTORY GARDEN.
Cheerio,
Rhys
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